Oh, Internets! There is so much to tell you about what's been going on! Where to start? Oh! Neil Diamond!
I think that my love for Neil has been documented on this site before, specifically here and here (which is not so much about Neil-love as it is husband-love, but... moving along). So, the concert was on December 19, 2008, which was so long ago that it was LAST YEAR! The concert was wonderful and amazing and everything I could have wanted it to be! I'm very glad we went. Although, there is a story there, as there usually is when I am involved in almost anything. It goes a little something like this:
The week of the concert, Joel was traveling in California for work. Again. He was scheduled to get home early on in the day on the 19th, so I wasn't too concerned about it. That is, until it started snowing like some kind of bastard outside (incidentally, kind of like it's snowing right this minute). Joel called me right about the time he was scheduled to leave to tell me that his plane had been delayed, but he still thought he'd make it in time to go to the concert.
At this point, I'm starting to feel a little uneasy. Not only because my husband would have to fly in some miserable weather, but also because we had spent a lot of money on these tickets and I would have hated to waste them if I couldn't find anyone to go with me. Which was a distinct possibility because it was Christmastime and people had stuff and parties and whatnot... and I don't have that many friends.
So, Joel finally leaves San Jose about 4 hours later than he was scheduled. We'd be cutting it really close, but I figured we'd make it! When he got to the airport, he called me and I went to pick up our dinner at Taco Bell (because we're fancy like that). When I got home, he was already there and we wolfed down our dinner and were out the door in about 10 minutes. We live a block away from a Trax (Salt Lake's light rail train) station. We planned it perfectly and got to the stop just as the train was scheduled to be pulling into the station. At this point, we'd be a little late, but figured we had some time to spare because he'd probably go on stage a little late. Right? HA!
Apparently, the storm had significantly affected the train service in the direction we were heading. We waited at the outdoor stop, in heavy snow and frigid cold, for 15 minutes before we decided we should walk back to our car and drive over there. (Just as an aside: I get a lot of crap for driving everywhere, and I'd just like to tell those people to kiss my car-driving ASS. Every time I try to take public transportation, I get royally screwed!) By the time we did get there, we were about 30 minutes late and he was just finishing up "Cherry, Cherry" and apparently he had already sung 3-4 songs.
BUT, we did get to hear all of the other songs I wanted to hear, including "Sweet Caroline", "Forever in Bluejeans", "I am, I said", "America" (which was accompanied by a slide show with pictures of young Neil and immigrants? I don't know. They were old pictures, is what I'm saying). He sang some new stuff, too, which was good, but I went for the old familiar songs and I was not disappointed! Here are some shitty cameraphone pictures:
Off the big screen close to our seats.
Um... thanks for nothing CAMERAPHONE!
Prior to the concert, I had heard from various people that Neil has lost his voice and can't sing anymore. To those people I say, "Shut right the fuck up!" His voice sounded great and he was very entertaining and he gave the people what they wanted: two extra choruses of Sweet Caroline. I tell you, that part alone was worth the price of admission and Joel thought seeing me jump around like a retard was worth the price of admission. So, we both left happy and satisfied.
And that was Neil Diamond. Please tune in later where you'll find stories like: Our New House AND Carrie's Statue of the Easter Bunny, which she got from a grateful client as part of a Christmas present.
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